Want to volunteer with children? You’re probably a paedophile

Recently, a school in Bedford banned parents attending a school sports day. Paul Blunt, from the East Bedfordshire Schools Sports Partnership, explained:
“If we let parents into the school they would have been free to roam the grounds. All unsupervised adults must be kept away from children.”

This is just another sad indictment of the media-induced paedophile frenzy that has gripped our nation. There seems to currently exist a malevolent accusation that anyone who seeks contact with children – even a parent – is a paedophile. The government, eager to further the state’s control of the parenting process has created the Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA), which will take into account lifestyles, relationships and beliefs when assessing the suitability of more than 11 million people who have contact with children – including parents that regularly offer lifts. It can consider unproven allegations made in newspaper reports or tip-offs from members of the public, as well as trawling internet chatrooms and websites such as Facebook for evidence to use against applicants. Just to emphasise, based on unproven allegations from members of the public (gossip), you could be blacklisted from working with children, possibly even named and shamed when the next wave of hysteria rolls round- all in the public interest, of course.

The current paedophilia case involving a Nottingham resident and a nursery worker highlighted the inability of the current CRB checking system to safeguard our children.

Vanessa George was fully vetted by the Criminal Records Bureau as fit to work with children, and yet waged a depraved campaign of abuse on her infant charges. But does prevention of these crimes lie in even more authoritarian and ineffective vetting, or a more sensible community based approach to raising the next generation?